12.31.2014

Post #300 - St. Paco's Top Ten All-Time Top Ranking Blog Posts

I seldom check my blog's statistics. For me it's simply enough to arrange a few words in TextEdit® (okay, several words), paste 'em into Blogger™, scan and upload photos, plop in some relevant tags, and then post it all to the "Internets." And when the post is done, that's it. Rarely does it occur to me to see if my offerings have ever caused a ripple in The Force™.

But it did occur to me to check into that today.

Becoming hyper-aware, after mentioning in an email to a fellow writer/blogger on Saturday that my blog was just two posts shy of 300, I thought that I should take a moment to survey how things have been going with YKFS. Traffic wise, I mean. I started wondering if anything that I'd posted to the blog since the last time I thought to check the stats *cough* maybetwoyearsago *cough* had generated a significant number of page views.

After keying in my username and password into the sign in screen at Blogger™, I logged in, opened up the control panel, slid the pointed cursor over to the statistics button on the left side of the screen and clicked the mouse. Top 20 reasons why Nicki Minaj is a geek goddess... 3,659 page views. Holy craaaaaaaaaaap!!!

Okay, a funny story about that piece. Not funny like 'haha' funny, but a semi-amusing anecdote. That post was actually written for The Smoking Section. At the time it was written, TSS was looking for new bloggers for their site and I drafted two original pieces for their sage consideration. Two pieces that I thought were perfect for a finger-on-the-pulse pop culture website.

The short Sprite Voltron piece that I also wrote for TSS was pretty good too. But I was really excited about the Minaj joint. So much so that I also made a bootleg 'click bait' teaser thingamabob, just like the ones on TSS. The teaser featured a nerdy-looking snapshot of Nicki that was spot-on for the piece. I then loaded everything into a nicely formatted e-mail, clicked 'send' and waited patiently for TSS to welcome the kid into the fold.

I never heard a word from 'em.

After about three weeks of waiting in vain, I said 'to heck' with TSS. I was actually beside myself with the thrill of posting the pieces written for them on my own blog. And here, now in major retrospect, seeing how one of those pieces attracted over 3600 hits for a back alley blog like YKFS, by my calculations they prolly should've taken a chance on yours truly. Who knows what kinda traffic I could've generated over there. Oh well, their total loss.

And, hey! This must be kinda how it feels for artists like Eminem and Kanye after they finally get a record deal and then go...sextuple platinum (yes, that's a real word). The big fat sense of validation it must bring, when juxtaposed against the maddening fact that so many fat cat execs passed on their music. Execs who later wanted to murder themselves for that critical lapse in judgment.

Okay, okay. I know that I am really, reeeeeeaaallly reaching here, but it's my blog post and I fantasize if I want to. And with that mini moment of megalomania out of the way...

In honor of my 300th pulse-pounding blog post (dis one), St. Paco (dat's me) would like to cast the full beam of the spotlight on my Top Ten All-Time Top Ranking Blog Posts. And I'm pretty jazzed at the number of views that every single one of my posts have generated. Especially when considering how I thought it'd be an accomplishment just to get a few dozen hits per post.

Oh, and I also wanna take a quick moment before closing this 300th posting to say that if I ever do get scouted to write for one of those überpopular pop culture blogs, whoever okays that move – to quote Eminem – should prolly "get a finder's fee out this world! Ain't no one 'out their mind' as me!" [Maniacal laughter]

Here's to the next 300. Thanks for reading me.

SP


The YKFS Top Ten All-Time Top Ranking Blog Posts

01. Top 20 reasons why Nicki Minaj is a geek goddess – 3,659 views
02. Another 'Great Day in Harlem – 2,057 views
03. Fall into the Gap – 1,546 views
04. The Secret Santa – 1,270 views
05. Jay-Z on Jean-Michel Basquiat – 1,069 views
06. The Deadly Art of Black Dynamite – 920 views
07. Shaolin Break Dancing – 846 views
08. Georges Marciano's Guess Girl – 764 views
09. Breaking and the New York City Breakers – 644 views
10. Crisis in Electric Ladyland – 535 views

12.30.2014

"Headhuntaz"

Classic curry goat-flavored illustration by Mode 2. The Source Magazine Issue 53, February 1994.